2180 Richard Lappin

44215 South Hunsley School

AQA English Language (Advanced) 4111

Component Language A: Language Investigation

Investigating the lexical, syntactic and stylistic features of television and radio

football commentaries

Completed March 2000

2

Contents

3 Introduction 4 Methodology 6 Analysis 15 Conclusion 17 Bibliography 19 Transcripts

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Introduction

For my language investigation I will be examining the structural features of radio and

television commentary. My investigation will consider lexical, syntactic and stylistic

features in television and radio commentaries on two football matches. I will be

looking for ways in which the use of these features reflects the listener’s or viewer’s

experience, specifically in terms of being able or unable to see the action.

Sports commentary is a form of unscripted commentary which requires the

commentators to speak “off the cuff” as they describe and comment upon events as

they happen. The main difference between television and radio commentary is that

whilst the television viewer can see what is happening, the radio listener can not.

Therefore the radio commentator must provide everything that is necessary for

understanding and enjoyment, using only words.

“Although commentators have individual styles, they have a great deal in common in

their use of English, which is why unscripted commentary can be described as a variety

of spoken English”1

1 Dennis Freeborn, Varieties of English, P.126, Paul & Co. Pub. Consortium, 1997

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Methodology

To come to any meaningful conclusions at the end of my investigation it was

imperative that I made full use of all the resources and sources available to me.

The first step I took was to write letters/e-mails to a number of authorities2 who might

help me in some way with my investigation. I sent eight requests via e-mail to

universities3, of which three replied4. The replies were useful insofar as they gave me a

wide range of reading material that the writers felt would be beneficial to me in my

investigation.

The letters which I sent to Media companies differed slightly from those which I sent

to universities5. In these letters I asked questions more specific to the commentator,

inquiring about models, formats and policies that may be used. In total I sent six letters

and received three replies6. Two were unable to offer any help, but I did receive a

useful reply from John Helm of Yorkshire Television.

During this period I also collected my language data. I chose the first two football

matches which were available to me and were broadcast on radio and television. I

chose two matches not only to increase my data but to see if there were any differences

regarding the context of a match, e.g. the frequency of incidents. I transcribed a five

minute period from each broadcast on both radio and television. Thus, I had four

transcripts. I chose the time period of twenty to twenty-five minutes in each game.

Following the transcription of the football matches and background reading, I decided

upon further methods which would help me to examine my data. These included:

2 Appendix 5 3 Appendix 6 4 Appendixes 12,13 and 14 5 Appendix 7 6 Appendixes 15,16 and 17

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1. A total word count for all the transcripts.

2. Word counts for one radio and television commentary on the following;

nouns, pronouns, proper nouns, adjectives and verbs. In this instance I only

selected two transcripts because of time constraints.

3. Listings of the 1000, 2000 and 3000 most common words according to the

Longmans Language Corpus7. Again only using two transcripts because of

time constraints.

4. Dividing the transcripts up into ‘play-by-play’ and ‘colour adding’

commentary according to the definitions of David Crystal8.

5. Making a list of all the words specifically related to football.

6. Adding up the number of pauses in each transcript.

All of which will be discussed further, with the results that they brought, later on.

7 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, third edition, 1995 8 David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language, P.386, Cambridge University Press, 1999

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Analysis

My first task was to carry out a word count on each of the transcripts. Using Microsoft

Word to analyse the data I was able to gain the following statistics:

Match (5 minute period) Total Word Count

Manchester United v Chelsea (TV) 746

Manchester United v Chelsea (Radio) 1217

England v Belgium (TV) 614

England v Belgium (Radio) 1234

I found the results a little surprising but ultimately helpful. I expected there to be a

higher word count in a radio commentary compared to one on the television, but I did

not expect such a marked difference. For example, in the England v Belgium game,

there was over double the amount of words in the radio commentary compared to the

television one. You would predict the radio commentary to contain more words

primarily because it has to describe everything as the listener can not see the events

that are taking place. But also because if there is nobody is speaking on the radio, what

is the point in listening to the radio? thus silence is anathema on the radio. Meanwhile

on the television, the commentator can allow himself to be quiet for a short period of

time, as the viewer is still aware of what is happening in the match. This is often

welcomed by the viewer, however, on the radio it is imperative that this does not

happen and that is why there are three commentators on the radio compared to two on

the television.

On both of the radio commentaries there was never a break in speech and the only

reason why there is a difference in the total word count is because of the speed of the

commentators speech. I do not believe that any other contextual factor could have

influenced this. However, in the case of the television commentaries there was

numerous occasions in which there were pauses in the speech, as you can see in the

table below.

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Match Total Time Of Pauses

Manchester United v Chelsea (TV) 67 Seconds

England v Belgium (TV) 44 Seconds

Thus, not only where there less words said in the England v Belgium match, but there

was also an additional 23 seconds, compared to the Manchester game, in which there

was no speech. Both matches were presented by the same commentators, Martin Tyler

and Andy Gray, so why the difference? On this occasion I believe it is because of

contextual reasons. If we are to look at the amount of incidents in the five minute

period of each game, we can see that the Manchester game had much more happening

in it than the England match. The Manchester game featured a sending off, a booking,

two goal mouth incidents, and a goal that had just been scored prior to my five minute

period. In comparison the England match had a free kick and one goal mouth incident.

Although there are bound to be differences in the number of incidents in a match it

does illustrate how variations in incidents have an impact on commentary. It is

therefore clear that the Manchester match had a great deal more to comment on and

that is the reason for the difference in word counts and time lost through pauses. The

amount of incidents is irrelevant to radio transcripts as the commentator will describe

everything that is happening regardless of how important it is.

David Crystal distinguishes two separate forms of commentary naming them ‘play-by-

play’ commentary and the ‘colour-adding’ commentary9. He defined ‘colour-adding’ as

“pre-event background, post-event evaluation, and within-event interpretation”. In

contrast ‘play-by-play’ is the method used to describe actual events that are happening

as the commentator sees them. To investigate this theory further, I divided each of my

four transcripts into the two categories. The results were the following:

Match ‘Play-by-Play’ ‘Colour-Adding’ Total Word Count

Man v Che (TV) 452 294 746

Man v Che (Radio) 1183 34 1217

9 David Crystal, The Encyclopaedia of the English Language. P.386, Cambridge University Press, 1999

8

Eng v Bel (TV) 396 218 614

Eng v Bel (Radio) 1084 150 1234

The differences are somewhat clearer if you look at the graph in appendix 8. In

television commentary, roughly a third of all speech is ‘colour-adding’, whereas in

radio commentary, at best, it makes up a sixth. There are a number of possible reasons

for this. Firstly, on the radio, the primary objective is to describe what is happening and

so the only time when the commentator can ‘colour-add’ is whilst there is a break in

play. In football, there are very few breaks, hence the short amount of ‘colour-adding’

on the radio. Meanwhile, on the television, it is not necessary for the commentator to

describe and comment upon every piece of action that takes place during the game as

the viewer can see for themselves. This is not to say that the commentator abandons

‘play-by-play’ commentary, it is just that he can be more selective on what he

comments upon. This gives him more spare time, and although he does not use it all as

indicated in the amount of time lost in pauses, he can now do a lot more ‘colour-

adding’ For example, in the England v Belgium television transcript10, there is a spell

from the end of line 33 to line 47 which is all purely ‘colour-adding’.

One immediately noticeable feature of sports commentary is its specific lexicon. There

are many words contained in the semantic field of football (those found in the

transcripts are listed in appendix 11). Although all the words are related to football, not

all are exclusive to it. Indeed, this is one of the main problems that semanticists face -

grouping words under a particular category. Nevertheless, all the words listed, have

specific football related meanings despite having other meanings. Lets for example

take wall. Its most common meaning is that of a “vertical construction made of stone,

brick, wood etc.…used to enclose, divide or support.”11 However, in the semantic field

of football it refers to a line of footballers used to protect their goal from an opponents

free-kick.

10 Appendix 2 11 Collins English Dictionary, P.1681, third edition, 1992

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Also noticeable in the list are collocations. These often link two or more common

words together to provide a technical term. Examples of this include free-kick and

penalty-area. Both, when separated into their original words have a separate meaning to

that of when they are joined together. When put together in the context of football, they

form a lexical item with a meaning particular to football.

Indeed many of the player and place names are also “context bound”. For example,

“England” and “Chelsea” do not unconditionally refer to the football sides, without

knowing the context they could relate to any number of things. The same is true of

player names, for instance, without knowing the context “Adams” does not necessarily

mean Tony Adams of England and Arsenal FC. It could in fact mean Gerry Adams,

leader of the IRA, as both are topical figures.

Although the register adopted by commentators contains many specific words, they

still have to talk in an understandable manner as their audience is a wide and varied

one. Shirley Russell refers to this demotic speech as the “common register”12.

However, it is not enough to just say that the commentator is using simple and easily

understood language. Objective evidence is needed. I therefore used the Longman

Corpus Network13, to find out if the words used by the commentators were common

(see appendixes 18 and 19). The corpus lists the 1000, 2000, and 3000 most common

words in speech and writing, from a corpus amassed in the last decade. If a word is

located in any of these collections than it is in the ‘common register’. For this I took a

100 word sample from both a radio and television transcript of the same match. To use

a bigger sample would not only have taken up too much time, but it would be

inefficient. The corpus claims to be extremely accurate and so a 100 word sample

should be enough to gain an accurate picture of the commentators choice of words. My

results where the following:

12 Shirley Russell, Grammar, Structure, and Style, P.36, Oxford University Press, 1997 13 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, third edition, 1995

10

England v Belgium (Radio)

Category (most common words) Percentage of Total Words

1000 79

2000 5

3000 2

3000+ 14

England v Belgium (TV)

Category (most common words) Percentage of Total Words

1000 83

2000 6

3000 3

3000+ 8

Although it would appear that television commentators use plainer English, it is not

necessarily true. The sample is relatively small and I believe a larger inspection would

reveal that there is little difference in the popularity of the words used by both radio

and television commentators. Nevertheless, this does illustrate that, for most of the

time, both radio and television commentators use a “common register”.

Commentators also regularly use metaphors to add excitement to their commentary and

bring the viewer/listener deeper into the game. This is especially important on radio

because if the commentator does not establish a rapport with the audience then they

will lose interest and switch off. There are many examples of this, including; “Belgium

mop it up nicely”14 (a domestic metaphor) and “net bound”15 (a navigational

metaphor). These examples are very vivid and add life to the commentary. However, if

over used they can degenerate into dead metaphors or clichés, because their original

meanings are lost. Commentators regularly use and as a result these become something

of a habit. For example, “Strupar smashes a volley”16 and “stabbed by Lampard”17.

14 Appendix 1, line 20 15 Appendix 1, line 16 16 Appendix 1, Line 6 17 Appendix 1, Line 10

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Yet this is not the distinguishing feature of sports commentaries. Such characteristics

can be found in press reports and everyday chat. There are other factors which make

this variety of English more distinctive. For instance, where normal conversation is

marked by hesitations, self-corrections, false starts, fillers, and incomplete sentences,

sports commentary is very fluent. This would suggest that it is an acquired skill and

although it sounds spontaneous, it has to be learned and practised. John Helm of

Yorkshire Television is in agreement stating that although there is no formal training,

“most commentators pick up the basics by listening to other commentators and develop

their own style and technique using bits of those they admire most”18. Nevertheless, I

did find some examples of non-fluency. For example in the Manchester (radio)

transcript, Mike Ingham says “so far f-what a ball”19, which is an example of a false

start. Also in the same commentary Alan Green and Bryan Hamilton speak at the same

time and this leads Green into saying “sorry Bryan”20, which disrupts the fluency.

There are a few further examples, but in general all the commentaries retain a high

degree of fluency throughout.

This fluency is greatly assisted by the highly formulaic style of presentation which the

commentators adopt. By formulaic, Crystal21 means sentence structures that do not

permit the usual range of grammatical variation. This is beneficial as it reduces the

memory load on the commentator, which is quite considerable in a football match, with

up to twenty-eight players, and so increases the fluency. Sometimes there may be

something obstructing the commentators view or they may not be sure what exactly is

going on. In radio especially it is imperative that the commentary goes on and

formulaic language provides a partial solution. For example, in the England (radio)

match Alan Green says “ Tanghe to, on the near side, Deflandre”. Presumably the

commentator was having some trouble in identify the person that Tanghe had passed

the ball to. Thus, the formula “X to Y” was interrupted by another formula, “on the

near side”, giving the commentator enough time to work out who exactly the ball had

been passed to.

18 Appendix 15 19 Appendix 3, Line 33 20 Appendix 3, Line 77 21 David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language, P.386, Cambridge University Press, 1999

12

There many other types of formula found such as the scoring formulae. For example,

“one one” or “two nil”. In radio commentary every so often we are reminded of the

time, the score and the radio station. There is a cyclical pattern which starts with this,

then goes on to describe a period of play, then there is a short analysis of the game

(usually by the specialist commentator) and then it is back to the time, score-line, and

radio station. This still occurs on the television commentaries but the pattern is less

rigid because the viewer can see the score and time on the screen. This pattern exists

because it offers the listener/viewer a ‘state of play’ summary which is crucial if you

have just switched on or if you have simply lost track of what is happening.

A common feature of ‘play-by-play’ commentary is the way in which the commentator

omits words. For example, “Deflandre to Van Meir”22. In conventional written English

this would read , Deflandre passes to Van Meir. The commentator is able to omit

certain words because his intended audience is an interested and knowledgeable one

and so he only has to describe the most important features of the play; player

(Deflandre), direction (to), and receiver (Van Meir)

The commentator does not have to mention passing because everybody understands

what is going on. Furthermore, if he was to describe every piece of action fully, the

next piece of action would be over before he could begin to describe it.

Verbs are also frequently omitted by commentators and it is usually a form of the verb

“to be”. This can occur as main verbs, for example, “Babayaro down the left hand

side”. Instead of, Babayaro is down the left hand side. Here the verb “is” is dropped. It

also happens when the verb is being used as an auxiliary to help form the present

continuous tense of another verb. For example, “Beckham trying to usher Nicky Butt

off”. Instead of, Beckham is trying to usher Nicky Butt off the pitch. In these examples

when the commentator is presenting an action, he is pointing to its existence as a fact.

He is stating the fact without the existential “is”. This is a reoccurring characteristic

found in all my transcripts.

22 Appendix 1, Line 43

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In ‘play-by-play’ commentary the commentators describe what is going on as they

speak. Therefore, they tend to use the simple present tense a lot. Examples are

numerous of this including, “Zola flicks the ball on”23 and “Ince stabs it back to

Seaman”24. This may appear obvious, but in ordinary conversation, the norm is the

present progressive tense. This is still used in commentary but not to the same extent as

the simple present tense. An example of this is “Beckham trying to usher Nicky Butt

off”. When referring back to an incident that has just happened the commentator

normally uses the simple past tense. For example, “Butt lost his cool and kicked out”

The present tense is used far more often than the past tense. Not only does the

commentator do this because he is describing events as they happen, but it also adds

drama, life and excitement to the viewing/listening experience.

To determine if there were any differences in the use of grammar between television

and radio commentaries I decided to measure the frequency of word categories25. Due

to time constraints I used only the England match. My results were the following:

Word

Category

Radio

Words

Percentage

Television

Words

Percentage

Nouns 218 18% 111 18%

Pronouns 66 5% 39 6%

Proper Nouns 161 13% 91 15%

Adjectives 135 11% 58 9%

Adverbs 16 1% 9 1%

Verbs 111 9% 65 11%

Total Words 1234 614

As you can see there are very few differences between television and radio

commentary in any of the word categories. I had expected to find a higher proportion

23 Appendix 3, Line 22 24 Appendix 1, Line 49

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of qualifiers to be used on the radio, as there would be a greater need to describe events

more precisely as the listener can not actually see what is happening. However, the

differences are so slight that no meaningful variations can be justified. It is therefore

apparent that there is a remarkable uniformity between the mediums in terms of types

of words used.

There are a number of other interesting features that I found in my transcripts. Firstly,

it would appear that a common way for commentators to commence speaking is to start

by saying “well”. This happens on several occasions by most commentators on both

mediums, acting as a “start” button for the beginning of speech. Secondly, a difference

between radio and television commentary is what they can report on. For instance, on

television they comment upon a highlight as it is played to the viewer26, whilst on the

radio they go to other grounds to get updates on other matches27. Although, this

fundamentally reporting policy, it may have an influence on the type of language used

by the commentator when introducing the feature and commenting upon it.

25 Appendixes 9 and 10 26 Appendix 4, Line 4 27 Appendix 3, Line 62

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Conclusion My findings suggest that football broadcasting has distinct language forms which

means that it can therefore be "described as a variety of spoken English"28.

Football commentary on both the television and radio has a number of features which

allows it to convey an appropriate sense of action. This is chiefly because of the high

degree of fluency it maintains due to its formulaic language and omitting of unessential

words. Both mediums also use a similar, "common", register, which is based on the

same specific lexicon. Furthermore, commentators on both the radio and television

revert to "colour-adding", which is critical in an uneventful match. Yet it quickly

disappears as soon as play becomes eventful again.

Nevertheless, there is considerably more "colour-adding" on the television in

proportion to the radio. There is also a greater number words spoken in a given five

minute period on a radio commentary compared to a television one. These two pieces

of evidence support the "common-sense" view that there would be differences because

of what the audience can or can't see.

However, the most significant finding is that football commentary in general is a

distinct form of the English language. As Charles Ferguson has stated, it is “a monolog

or dialog-on-stage directed at an unknown, unseen, heterogeneous mass audience who

voluntarily choose to listen and provide no feedback to the speaker”29. Therefore, the

real significance lies in football commentary itself, not between the mediums that it is

transmitted on.

28 Dennis Freeborn, Varieties of English, P. 126, Paul & Co. Pub. Consortium, 1997 29 Charles Ferguson, quoted in, The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language, P. 386,

Cambridge University Press, 1999

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Although in my investigation I have been unable to record the linguistic use of pitch

loudness, tempo, and rhythm. Prosody is still a feature which should not be ignored in

the investigation of commentary. In all my examples there was a wide range of pitch

and loudness depending upon what was happening in the match. There was also

varying idiosyncrasies from one commentator to another. For example, Alan Green

tended to ask many rhetorical questions to bring in a topic which he wished to discuss

further. He did this by raising the intonation in his voice towards the end of the

question.

Word-count: 3,675 words (counted by Microsoft Word; excludes title page and

appendixes)

17

Bibliography

David Crystal The Cambridge Cambridge 1999

Encyclopaedia of the University Press

English Language

Shirley Russell Grammar, Structure, Oxford University 1997

and Style Press

Dennis Freeborn Varieties of English Macmillan 1986

J.J. Weber The Stylistics Reader London: Edwin 1996

Arnold

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, third edition, 1995

Collins English Dictionary, third edition, 1992

18

Additional Key To Transcripts: Pauses = (-) Words spoken at the same time = underlined Nouns = pink highlighting Pronouns = purple highlighting Proper Nouns = [----] Adjectives = green highlighting Verbs = yellow highlighting

England v Belgium (Radio)

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Transcripts Game: England v Belgium (International Friendly)

Date: 10/10/99

Medium: Radio

Channel: BBC Radio 5

Commentators: Mike Ingham (A), Terry Butcher (B), Alan Green (G)

Time: 20:00 to 25:00 (approx.)

A: twenty minutes gone, one one, five live, Sunday sport and Belgium, well they

may fancy this one. Two players over the ball at the moment, one of them is Strupar,

the other is Wilmots who has scored fifteen times for his country. And er well Struper

looks er business like here, with Wilmots. England setting up a little wall on the edge

of the area. Seaman in the shade by his right hand post, and er here comes Strupar,

right footed, into the wall, back again to Strupar, smashes a volley. Might still be in

play, it is down this near side. Sits up well for Deflandre, Deflandre’s ball in is

controlled well by Southgate but it’s back with Belgium. Near side, Tanghe, in it goes,

a bit more height this time. Keown heads it away not very far. In goes Van Kerkhoven,

Strupar’s looking dangerous once more. It’s stabbed out by Lampard, Shearer trying to

control an awkward ball. Lampard also controls an awkward ball and flicks it down the

left hand side to Guppy and Guppy plays it off a defender for a throw-in.

B: Well good spell of play by Belgium, they really do knock the ball around well.

They’ve got Strupar who comes off well, very strong. Orin on the left hand side.

They’ve had two good efforts on goal, well blocked by England defenders because they

were net bound.

England v Belgium (Radio)

20

A: England one Belgium one. Shearer with a goal after five minutes, England

haven’t built on it. As Guppy had his shirt pulled but the referee once again plays a

good advantage and Dyer of course much happier in attacking situations. In goes the

ball from Dyer aimed towards Shearer. Belgium mop it up nicely inside the penalty

area and a big long clearance from Van Meir is back inside the England half. Keown

was looking towards Adams there, but in the end with the back pass finds his Arsenal

goalkeeper Seaman. Seaman’s long high ball back inside the Belgium half and a foul

by Shearer, free kick to Belgium. Coming up to twenty two minutes gone here at the

Stadium of Light, its one one, and following the free kick it’s a long one from

Wilmots, that’ll be offside against De Bilde, and a free kick to England.

B: well the movement is good from er the Belgium forwards and er England at the

back look a little bit rattled, they’ve had to er throw themselves and block one or two

efforts on goal lately and er its not been as comfortable as it was in the first five or six

minutes for England. But er England have er stopped passing the ball and er erm

containing the Belgium’s, they’ve just literally given the ball away too needlessly and

er have then had to work hard to get it back. So if er England were to keep the ball a bit

better, get the width down the left hand side where they’ve had a lot of joy then they

will er stand a chance.

A: Shearer header on, looks for Phillips, out comes the goal keeper and eventually

he gets there. Well after England scored I posed the question how much appetite would

Belgium have for the game, to be fair to them they’ve come back well here, it’s

England one Belgium one, its the half way point of the first half already here, and here

with Terry Butcher is Alan Green.

England v Belgium (Radio)

21

G: Well at least its quite tasty for a friendly. Philips not getting too much change

out of the Belgium defence at the moment, who’s just hacked at Peeters, the referee I

think spotted it but the Belgium’s have possession so play is allowed to continue.

Deflandre to Van Meir, Peeters just checking his left boot and the state of his left leg.

And Van Meir clips it to the far side to Oyen whoa er been very influential for

Belgium on that left flank so far. In field to Van de Haeghe. And now its taken up by

Tanghe, Tanghe to the near side and Deflondre, yard in from the right touchline. In

field to Wilmots the captain and pressure coming in from Redknapp, wins the ball back

for England and then Shearer almost caught in possession, its with Ince, and Ince stabs

it back to Seaman. And then er Seaman just tees the ball up and then slides it to his

right. And now its with Martin Keown his Arsenal colleague, in his red boots which go

very snazzily with the red outfit, I can’t begin to understand why England are wearing

red today, unless its a tribute to Sunderland, or more likely some commercial reason.

But Belgium’s normal colours are all red, there in all white this afternoon. Bright

sunlight afternoon on wearside, England one, Belgium one and your listening to Five

Live sport on the BBC. The ball is played carelessly down the Belgium left, straight

out of play, and its going to be a throw in to England. Its funny Terry, you said earlier

how England were reverting to a three today, but for many years I always thought our

defenders were more comfortable with a four.

B: Well under Glenn Hoddle er Glenn played a three all the time er er and the

personnel hasn’t really changed that much Sol Campbell is the only one really missing

from the er threesome at the back and er and England possibly look a bit more

comfortable with a three although today their not because as soon as Belgium get the

ball and make advances, then Belgium leave it two on two at the back, they play a very

England v Belgium (Radio)

22

cagey game with Phillips and Shearer they leave the two centre halves two and two and

the fullbacks push down and the two wider players of the midfield four push on so they

force Kieron Dyer back on the right hand side and force Steve Guppy back on the left

hand side and then the fullbacks come and join in, then England were they have the

numerical advantage in the middle of the pitch is no good because the balls are going

to the wider players which are the fullbacks and England are constantly being

stretched.

G: A few England substitutes just running up and down the near touchline,

including two Manchester United players, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes. There’s not a

Manchester United player in the England starting line up today, I cant remember the

last time that happened. England one, Belgium one and Belgium look the better team at

the moment. Here’s Oyen down the far side and its slipped to the goalscorer Strupar.

Back to the halfway and Belgium are pacing. Willmotts back to Van Meir and Van

Meir puts it left. And a few groans around the Stadium of Light as England are being

made to chase the ball at the moment. Wilmots, left footed, great ball but the flag is up

for offside, against De Bilde and it’s a free-kick to England just a few yards outside

their penalty area. Adams takes it quickly to Southgate, er to Redknapp, all three club

captains there. Adams, Redknapp and Southgate and of course they’ve got Shearer

upfront as well. So there are plenty of men who can do the talking out there. Southgate

towards Shearer it’s knocked away by the defender.

England v Belgium (TV)

23

Game: England v Belgium (International Friendly)

Date: 10/10/99

Medium: Television

Channel: Sky Sports

Commentators: Martin Tyler (M), Andy Gray (A)

Time: 20:03 to 25:13

M: Strupar is placing the ball, I think he’s the man hoping to strike it, he’s having a

word with his captain Wilmots

A: well you don’t usually take out a striker out of the penalty for a free-kick round

about here if he aint going to hit it.

M: well he hasn’t hit it very well, second time

A: good ball though

M: not sure who he was aiming for but Deflandre makes it awkward for England

and in particular Southgate. Back from Tanghe and here’s Van Kerkhoven and Strupar

is in there again. Touch from Lampard was of an accurate nature (3) Guppy and it was

a good idea to steer it forward quickly into the path of Phillips, Deflandre just able to

lean across and divert it out for an England throw. (4) Guppy and Peeters is the man

who expects a cross but he doesn’t get one that time, he was forced infield. The

delivery though comes from Dyer or he shaped for it (4) cleared by Van Meir (5)

Belgium were slow to push out that time (3) free-kick given against Shearer, twenty -

eight international goals now, as I say only five England players have ever reached the

thirty mark or more. Bobby Charlton leading the way forty-nine, Gary Lineker forty-

eight, Jimmy Greaves forty-four and two on thirty, Tome Finney and Nat Lofthouse so

er

England v Belgium (TV)

24

A: thirty goals is definitely gettable, whether he’ll ever get in the top trio (3)

M: well he was asked that this week and of course it is rightly an ambition, but he’s

got to maintain his position what for four or five years one would have thought.

Shearer, it’s Phillips

A: He’s done well to get between them, Peeters and the keeper, they got a little

close and Phillips was always threatening. Look at the prey on the little flick through,

looking to run behind, anything goes his way, but its good goalkeeping, kept his eye on

the ball (4)

M: little trip on Peeters by Philip, Belgium had possession (4) Van Meir played in

Casablanca just before the World Cup finals of ninety-eight, a match which Belgium

won on penalties, they’ve only ever beaten England once over ninety minutes and that

was back in the nineteen-thirties. They’ve already looked capable of giving England a

really hard work-out here Wilmots (3) insteps Southgate, Shearer deep, pursued by

Van de Haeghe

A: Good pressure from the midfield player, Van de Haeghe (3) confident this

Belgium side Martin, I’ll say that, in possession, look accomplished, know what

they’re doing. Trying to work the ball, left side if they can and then try and transfer it

across when England over commit. Kept possession pretty well (3) Pretty even.

England had a really good ten minutes in this game, since then the Belgiums have been

rather in the ascendancy a little (6)

M: The match in Morocco incidentally was the graveyard game for players like

Gascoigne, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and Dion Dublin within forty-eight hours they had

all been left out of Glen Hoddle’s squad for France.(3) the target for these players and

England v Belgium (TV)

25

for Kevin Keegan is to get in the squad for the play-offs, home and away remember,

next month.

A: When’s the draw, Wednesday

M: Yes in Arkham (Aachen?)

A: A day for our shores (6)

M: That’s the Newcastle Sunderland partnership for England (4) Van der Haeghe

getting the better of Lampard in the air, it runs away from Jamie Redknapp.(3) Tanghe

who likes to play behind the front two. Wilmots

A: Well this has been there out ball all half, left side

M: Strupar, Van Kerkhoven lets it run (6)

Pauses = (-)

Manchester United v Chelsea (Radio)

26

Game: Manchester United v Chelsea (Premiership)

Date: 03/10/99

Medium: Radio

Channel: BBC Radio 5

Commentators: Mike Ingham (A), Bryan Hamilton (B), Alan Green (G),

Steve May (S)

Time: 20:00 to 25:00 (approx.)

A: As Poyet glances the ball on and Berg is there to sweep it back towards the

Chelsea half. Babayaro down the left hand side, Beckham really not in the game yet.

The ball eventually out of play for a Chelsea thrown in. They’re winning everything at

the moment Chelsea, they’re winning the balls in the air, they’re winning the tackles on

the floor and now Babayaro controls an awkward one on his chest, looks for Sutton,

Sutton going to try and turn with Henning Berg, former team mates at Blackburn and

Berg is forced into conceding a free-kick and the free-kick is touched off to the captain

Wise, across it goes with great accuracy to Ferrer who is in space, Ferrer now to

Deschamps, Deschamps to Dennis Wise, might think about the shot. Plants it into the

area instead and in fact Wise, well 25 yards out doesn’t score many goals that wasn’t a

bad position for him, but he tried to set up Poyet and it’s gone away for a goal-kick.

B: Yeah I think your right, I think there was good play, good inter-passing er

between Deschamps and him, he got the ball and and normally I would have expected

Dennis Wise because he had ten yards of green in front of him to touch it in front and

smack it for goal, but I think he really fancies Poyet on this far side against Dennis

Manchester United v Chelsea (Radio)

27

Irwin, he hung it up for him and of course after his early success he’s going to try it

again, but I I agree with you I think he should maybe have had a shot from there.

A: Well all over the pitch at the moment, Chelsea in these opening twenty minutes

are superior, in every position really, they’re working very hard and they seem to be

fired up maybe even more than Manchester United so far, but things of can change of

course dramatically in matches, Manchester United have all that fire power down there,

and the ball is with Babayaro, he’ll hit this ball long and Zola flicks the ball on and

Ferrer will get there first ahead of Nicky Butt and then he goes down under the

challenge from Nicky Butt and that’s a free-kick to Manchester United, twenty-one

and a quarter minutes gone in the first half at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea two,

Manchester United nil, your listening to five live and Chelsea give the ball away from

the free-kick and Bryan Hamilton is with us today.

B: Yes they haven’t given to many away and er I think one thing that is very

important for Manchester United, is they are very experienced, they’ve just to keep

their cool, at this moment in time there’s one or two just lost their discipline a little bit

and to get back into this game they’ve got to keep that.

A: Beckham as Irwin goes on the outside and then Beckham just gives the ball

straight to Wise its that kind of a game so far f-what a ball by Wise to find Zola,

controls the ball in the air and then Silvestre just manages to get a second bite at that

one and turns it back to Tai-every time Taibi gets the ball the Chelsea fans are jeering

him. Hoping he’ll make a mess of a back pass and now it’s a free kick to Chelsea short

of the halfway line, Wise to take it. Well an explosive start to the game here, halfway

point of the er of the first half, still loads of time to go and here’s Alan Green, two nil

to Chelsea.

Manchester United v Chelsea (Radio)

28

G: Gianluca Vialli today in the programme notes said welcome to the best team in

Europe, there not the best team in Europe this afternoon at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester United’s contribution so far has been very very poor.Defensively er

unsound to say the least. Outplayed and out-thought in midfield. I feel sorry for the two

upfront Yorke and Cole because they haven’t got a ball.

B: Yeah Yeah your quite right the service hasn’t been very good

G: Oh but what’s going on here between Scholes and Wise, er there was free kick

awarded inside the centre-circle, oh there’s a red card been produced.

B: Yeah Nicky Butt, I think it’s Nicky Butt has gone

G: oh now what is going on here, Wise has lost his boot, Andy Cole is getting

involved, there’s a there’s a sort of handbags at six paces there a lot of unhappy

Manchester United players, and er David Beckham is er trying to usher Nicky Butt off

the pitch. Nicky Butt has been dismissed here at Stamford Bridge, things go from bad

to worse for the European Cup holders and the Double holders. Manchester United

down to ten men and two nil down, Bryan Hamilton.

B: Yes it was a rash tackle by Dennis Wise in the middle of the park, his boots

were too high that’s for sure, but just as the referee had given the incident, er Nicky

Butt was on the ground, he appeared to get up there seemed to be contact and er the

referee appeared to have no option but to send him the red card. It was the one area of

concern for me that I felt that Manchester United had lost that little bit of discipline

after that er bad start they had made and it was so important for them to keep that

discipline, they lost it and they’re now down to ten men.

G: Penalty at Tottenham, Steve May

Manchester United v Chelsea (Radio)

29

S: and it’s gone to Leicester, Muzzy Izzet about to take it against Walker and he’s

scored. Muzzy Izzet has scored his sixth goal of the season. Leicester one Spurs nil, its

er if you like come against the run of play because for the opening exchanges Spurs

very much dominated although Leicester did get the ball in the net through Heskey, but

we had a penalty when Heskey was brought down by Tarrico and Izzet has converted.

It’s Leicester one, Spurs nil.

G: Ed de Goey has just made a great save from Paul Scholes, so Manchester

United down to ten men in this dramatic game at Stamford Bridge, this is five live

football, it’s Chelsea two, Manchester United nil. Oh, interesting little game, its busy

out there isn’t it. I mean I have got to admit I didn’t see the incident with Nicky Butt, I

just did not see the incident with Nicky Butt. Er there was a replay on a far flung

monitor which suggested that Wise’s foot was a little bit high as well, but er I don’t

know, but the referee saw it that’s for sure and Butt’s off. Manches..

B: I think that’s what

G: Sorry Bryan

B: I think that’s what happened Alan, er I think it was just a rash tackle by Dennis

Wise in the middle of the park, Nicky Butt was on the ground, he took exception to it,

but now Chelsea are coming at them again.

G: Here they come again, there’s a cross in, Sutton went to head the ball, missed it,

headed away by Berg, still inside that United penalty area but its with Taibi, and

there’s been another goal at Spurs, Steve May.

Manchester United v Chelsea (TV)

30

Game: Manchester United v Chelsea (Premiership)

Date: 03/10/99

Medium: Television

Channel: Sky Sports

Commentators: Martin Tyler (M), Andy Gray (A)

Time: 20:07 to 25:12

M: twenty minutes gone on the Ferguson watch (3) he’s going down maybe to

change things. Deschamps. Now Wise not closed down, he opts for the pass. Just to

run it in, a little chip he hoped to land beyond Irwin but it didn’t stop ran on. (4)

A: well it gives us a little chance to look at this fantastic header from Sutton and it

really was a great header. Well look at the space he has, no one comes to him, no one

presses him as soon as that ball has bypassed the best headerer, Stam, Sutton knows he

has a chance and my goodness he finished it well.

M: his first goal in the Premiership for virtually a year, missed a ,lot of football

over the second half of last season with Blackburn. (4) Chris Sutton one of three

Chelsea players in the England squad, long time Chelsea supporters have been

struggling to remember the last time that that happened. Wise and Le Saux the other

two

A: what would you be thinking if you were Vialli. You know you’d be thinking

about what a chance. I’ve talked about the respect and admiration that they have. Two

nil up with twenty minutes gone. Do they hold on to it, or do you try and get the

players to get another.

Manchester United v Chelsea (TV)

31

M: He might be thinking lets get the crosses continuing from right to left (3) a

method that’s produced two goals (3) Beckham capable of doing the same for

Manchester United (3) Zola drifting away from Philip Neville but Silvestre managed to

stop the Italian from settling into possession. Chelsea get a free kick.

A: Well they need a goal. I know we’ve talked about the changes they could make

and I know ere only 22 minutes into the game, a quarter of the game Martin but I think

I wonder now if Alex and Jim McClaren are having a chat because what they might do,

I’d play Dwight Yorke left side and Sheringham up alongside Cole that is another

option and remember they finished the game against Leeds, I think it was this season,

in that system.

M: Neville tidies up in the centre of midfield and it might just be that they’re going

to put him in there without marking responsibilities now (3) well Nicky Butt he didn’t

like the challenge, a delayed reaction but a very stupid reaction from Butt because the

referee

A: He’s off Martin

M: really given (3) Manchester United already in dire problems, that’s a suicidal

moment.

A: well it’s all going off here if were not careful I’ll tell you (3) its all going off

here, every single player except the two goalkeepers involved in this and this will take

some sorting by the referee. Yorke’s furious Cole’s furious and both of them at Dennis

Wise, I don’t know what Dermot Gallagher can do, he gave a free kick, whether he’s

going to give him a yellow card for the challenge I can’t imagine anymore than that

Martin.

Manchester United v Chelsea (TV)

32

M: It is Yellow, Wise on bended knee, almost beseeching the referee not to do

anymore, but Butt is off and that is what hew took exception to. He waited and while

he waited and recovered Dermot Gallagher was coming in to sort it all out and then

Butt lost his cool, kicked out and now whatever changes Alex Ferguson was planning

involving Nicky Butt, he’s got to think again. (3)

A: well that’s just what they didn’t want.

M: and there’s a mistake that Chelsea didn’t want from Ferrer, and Scholes, great

stop by Ed de Goey. The goalkeeper hasn’t conceded a goal at all at Stamford Bridge

so far this season.

A: well for twenty four minutes he’s done nothing but watch the game Ed de

Goey. I hardly think he’s had a touch of the ball, but what a strike by Scholes arrives

right on cue, just tries to guide it with his instep. It’s on target but a little too close to

Ed de Goey. (4)

M: Well much has been made of this disciplinary debate, particularly last weekend

when nine players were sent off in the Premiership. But you have to say that when

players are as Nicky Butt was, the referee has no choice (5) and Chelsea really with

their tails up (3) Deschamps. Well the only surprise from Petrescue’s cross was that

nobody from Chelsea got a head on it.

33

Chart: play-by-play vs. colour adding

PLAY-BY-PLAY vs. COLOUR ADDINGEngland v Belgium (Radio)

0

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England v Belgium (TV)

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Manchester Utd v Chelsea (Radio)

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Manchester Utd v Chelsea (TV)

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34

Contacts

Universities: 1. Newcastle 2. Nottingham 3. York 4. Warwick 5. Loughborough 6. Lancaster 7. Sheffield 8. Birmingham x3

Media: 1. BBC 2. ITN 3. Sky TV 4. Channel 4 5. Channel 5 6. Yorkshire

35

Statistical analysis

MANCHESTER UNITED v CHELSEA (TV)

Summary of statistics Total word count = 746 Play-by-play = 452 Colour adding = 294

Brief Outline of each passage of speech 1. play-by-play 2. colour adding; referring to previous action 3. colour adding 4. colour adding 5. play-by-play 6. colour adding 7. play-by-play 8. play-by-play 9. play-by-play 10.play-by-play 11.play-by-play 12.play-by-play 13.play-by-play 14.play-by-play 15.colour adding • “on the Ferguson watch” • “opts for the pass” • refers back to earlier action when an action replay comes on • “no one” x2 = repetition • “headerer” • colour adding commentary by Tyler

36

Summaries for comparison

Manchester United v Chelsea (TV) Total word count = 746 Play-by-play = 452 Colour adding = 294

Manchester United v Chelsea (Radio) Total word count = 1217 Play-by-play = 1183 Colour adding = 34

England v Belgium (TV) Total word count = 614 Play-by-play = 396 Colour adding = 218

England v Belgium (Radio) Total word count = 1234 Play-by-play = 1084 Colour adding = 150

37

Football Related Words ball player names team names wall post volley throw-in goal defender net referee advantage penalty area half back pass goalkeeper foul free-kick stadium names offside forwards pass friendly defence left side right side near side possession boot far side flank touchline captain manager names fullbacks midfield substitutes goalscorer left footed flag upfront striker cross penalties squad play-offs home away draw tackle goal-kick shot halfway line red card European Cup Premiership season replay save header yellow card players

38

Letters Richard Lappin 23 Southfield Hessle East Riding Of Yorkshire HU13 0EL 23/10/99 Title Address Dear Sir/Madam, As part of my GCE Advanced Level work in English Language, I am conducting a Language Investigation. I have chosen to research the structural features of radio and television commentary. The investigation considers lexical, syntactic and stylistic features in television and radio commentaries on a football match. I would therefore be grateful for any insights that you may be able to provide in terms of background reading, research findings or indeed any other key points of contact that you consider would be beneficial in respect of my research. I would like to thank you for reading this brief request and look forward to receiving relevant information in due course. Yours faithfully RICHARD LAPPIN

39

Richard Lappin 23 Southfield Hessle East Riding Of Yorkshire HU13 0EL 23/10/99 Title Address Dear Sir/Madam, As part of my GCE Advanced Level work in English Language, I am conducting a Language Investigation. I have chosen to research the structural features of radio and television commentary. The investigation considers lexical, syntactic and stylistic features in television and radio commentaries on a football match. I would therefore be grateful for any insights that you may be able to provide, with particular emphasis on the following questions; Does the presenter or broadcaster work to a script or given format? Does the broadcasting or production company have any guidelines or policies? Are there models used for teaching commentary? I would like to thank you for reading this brief request and look forward to receiving relevant information in due course. Yours faithfully RICHARD LAPPIN

Copyright Richard Lappin 2000